A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, by John W. Cousin

Q

Quarles, Francis (1592–1644). — Poet, born at the manor-house of Stewards near Romford, was at
Cambridge, and studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. Thereafter he went to the Continent, and at Heidelberg acted as cup-bearer
to Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of James I. He next appears as secretary to Archbishop Ussher in Ireland, and was in
1639 Chronologer to the City of London. On the outbreak of the Civil War he sided with the Royalists, and was plundered
by the Parliamentarians of his books and rare manuscripts, which is said to have so grieved him as to bring about his
death. His first book of poems was A Feast for Worms (1620); others were Hadassa (Esther) (1621),
Sion’s Elegies (1625), and Divine Emblems (1635), by far his most popular book. His style was that
fashionable in his day, affected, artificial, and full of “conceits,” but he had both real poetical fire and genuine
wit, mixed with much that was false in taste, and though quaint and crabbed, is seldom feeble or dull. He was twice
married, and had by his first wife 18 children.